How can coaching help me?

A series of conversations that focuses on your individual professional and/or personal growth and development.

A process that we enter into willingly with clear expectations and agreements on how the process will work.

A relationship, or partnership, that allows anything to be asked, said or considered.

Coaching can be described as a series of guided conversations that enable you to discover and implement solutions to achieve your goals. These solutions, because they are developed by you are more likely to succeed and endure than solutions imposed externally.

“Everybody deserves to have a career that they love; to feel excited getting out of bed in the morning. We don’t have to settle for anything less.”

Do you have a dream about how your career could be, but it feels like there are insurmountable obstacles in your way?

Do you feel stuck in a job that bores or doesn’t inspire you?

Have you spent years drifting through your career with no real sense of direction or purpose?

Have you achieved success in your field, but come to realise that – as you imagine the next 20 years of your working life – you need something more to sustain you?

Coaching is about helping you move past your current self-limiting automatic behaviours that are holding you back. Sometimes we don’t see ourselves as other’s see us, coaching helps you to uncover your hidden strengths and support your weaknesses. It opens your mind to hear critical feedback delivered in a non-judgemental way. Coaching is positive, we don’t dwell on past histories or try to unpick childhood trauma, rather we focus on what is happening right now, and how you use your current resources to manage yourself better. Ultimately coaching is about setting goals and taking action.

My coaching approachI use a framework called Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT). ACT work focuses on helping people to see the context of their lives, to “work with” unhelpful thoughts and emotions and to “work towards” values and goals. The philosophy is flexible and can be adapted to coaching.

Acceptance and Commitment Training (or ACT) is evidence-based (now over 100 RCTs) cognitive behavioural intervention which works at both ends of the spectrum. In a nutshell, ACT helps people to change their relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions, in the service of constructing a life around what really matters to them.

ACT involves learning a number of mindfulness skills in order to deal with thoughts and emotions more effectively. Yet this is mindfulness for the messiness of real life. It is mindfulness with a purpose. So there is a strong emphasis on connecting with one’s inner values and seeing these values realised in everyday life through action. Put simply, ACT is an extremely powerful approach in helping people to live the life that they truly want, rather than the life that their thoughts and emotions would dictate.

I also use ideas and tools from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and a framework called a problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping.

What happens in a coaching session?

Our first sessions are about exploring what is going on for you right now and uncovering where you feel stuck and where you need to develop your skills. We determine what you want to focus on and what results you want to see from your coaching programme. We will explore your behaviour patterns and how you relate to yourself and others around you. We then discuss practical steps you can take to achieve your goals. There is often homework for you to complete between sessions, and we spend time discussing any difficulties that you have encountered implementing your action plans.

What is expected of me?Taking a coaching programme isn’t a decision you should take lightly, you’ll need to commit to regular coaching sessions lasting up to an hour and a half each time. You’ll need to commit to taking action outside of the sessions, even when this action feels uncomfortable and challenging. You need to develop a critical and open mind, you need to question yourself, your behaviours and your motivations. Sometimes you’ll find out things about yourself that are unpleasant or difficult to accept, this is a normal part of the process. But the role of the coach is to help you see past unhelpful behaviours and help you achieve your best potential.

Interested? Book your two free coaching sessionsI offer two free coaching sessions to help you get in contact with what is truly important to you. At the end of the sessions, you’ll have a clear idea of what life direction you need to take, what fears are holding you back, and what skills you need to improve.